Ball Brothers Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 21, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 298 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BALL BROTHERS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AMERICAN
FLINT GLASS WORKERS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER
Case No. 35-RC-185.Decided July 21,1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held before
William A. McGowan, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. The Intervenor moves to dismiss the petition upon the
;ground that the proposed unit is inappropriate. This motion, for
reasons hereinafter stated, is granted.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.'
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons:
The Petitioner requests the severance of three welders from a unit
of miscellaneous employees for the purpose of including them in a
unit of mold makers at the Employer's Muncie, Indiana, plant. The
Intervenor contends that, in view of its bargaining history with the
Employer, the proposed unit is inappropriate upon the ground that
the welders are neither skilled mold makers nor traditionally part of
the mold makers' unit, and therefore not entitled to severance from the
unit represented by the Intervenor.2 The Employer takes no position
with respect to the question of the appropriate unit.
1 Federation of Glass, Ceramic and Silica Sand Workers of America, C. I. 0., was per-
mitted to intervene upon the basis of a current contractual interest.
2 The collective bargaining history shows that since 1937 the welders have been part
of a unit of miscellaneous employees initially represented by the Glass Bottle Blowers
85 N. L. R. B., No. 56.
298
BALL BROTHERS COMPANY 299
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of glass containers at
its Muncie, Indiana., plant. It employs approximately 60 mold makers
and apprentices in the mold division under the supervision of a division
superintendent. The work of the employees in the mold division is
concerned entirely with the processing and repair of the molds used in
the manufacture of glass containers.3 Also employed in the mold di-
vision and intermingled with the mold makers throughout the division
are about 31 employees in miscellaneous classifications and included in
the broad unit represented by the Intervenor. Among them are 3
welders, mold polishers, cleaners, sand blasters, and inspectors, and a
driver and tool maker. The 3 welders work almost exclusively on the
repair of molds 4 and perform the function of replacing parts of the
mold destroyed by wear or careless handling.-
In addition to the 3 welders, there are approximately 12 other weld-
ers who work in the plant's general welding departments Some of
-the welders are assigned to general maintenance and others to different
departments in the plant, as in the case of the mold division.7 Al-
though assignments are intended to be on a more or less permanent
basis, the Employer nevertheless retains the right to transfer welders
to other jobs in other departments if the need requires." The Em-
ployer maintains a separate pay-roll for all welders including those
Association of the United States and Canada . In 1943 the Intervenor was first certified
as bargaining representative for this unit , and has since bargained collectively with the
Employer . The Petitioner recognizes that the welders have been working under the
jurisdiction of the Intervenor , as expressed in the latter 's contracts with the Employer.
3 The nature of the work performed by the mold makers and the skills exercised by them
may, perhaps , be best indicated by the definition of mold making as contained in the
Petitioner 's industry -wide contract . This provides that "the following work shall be
classed as mold making , and mold makers and apprentices shall be engaged to perform this
class of work. Planing, joining , pinning, venting , letter cutting , filing, scraping in the
construction of new cast figured molds , turning and chipping of molds and keeping same
in repair . . .
" A fourth welder is employed in the "neck ring ," or neck mold , part of the mold
division . He devotes only a small portion of his time to the task of welding the neck
mold to certain bars to assure proper alignment . The Petitioner does not seek to sever
this welder from the miscellaneous unit upon the ground that he does no work on the mold
itself.
5 After initial processing by a skilled mold maker , the mold welder welds a piece of metal
into the cavity in the mold prepared by the mold maker . His job in connection with the
mold is finished with the completion of the weld . The mold is returned to the mold maker
who by the exercise of his special skills refines the crude weld until the mold is restored
to its original shape.
Although the welding department operates under the immediate supervision of a fore-
man, the welders assigned to other departments are directly supervised by the head of the
department to which they are assigned.
° The three welders assigned to the mold division have been employed there for approxi-
mately 3 years. Prior to the adoption of the practice of assigning welders to other depart-
ments on it permanent basis, all mold repair work was performed in the welding department.
In fact there is some testimony in the record that as recently as the early part of 1948,
welders on the second shift in the welding department were doing mold repair work.
'Thus one of the welders in the sheet metal department was transferred to the mold
division.
300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the mold division. All welders are subject to the same seniority
provisions in lay-offs and rehirings.
In urging the severance of the three welders in the mold division
from the miscellaneous unit, the Petitioner contends that the work
of the welders is an important and integral part of the work of the
mold division and is closely allied with the mold makers craft. It
asserts that because of the confinement of the workers to the mold
division, their physical proximity to mold makers working on mold
repair, their common supervision and their common interests with
mold makers in the terms and conditions of employment in the mold
division, the appropriateness of a. unit of mold makers and welders
is fully established. We do not agree. Although the work of the
welders is an important part of the work in the mold division, we
recognize that the skills exercised by the three welders who repair
molds are essentially the skills of an experienced welder and are not
the traditional skills of the mold maker.9 Nor does it appear that
the proposed unit of mold makers and welders is a well defined and
homogeneous craft unit of the type which the Board has customarily
.found appropriate.10 The interests of such welders are as closely
allied to the interests of the other welders employed throughout the
plant as they are to those of the mold makers. The welders of the
mold division are to be distinguished from the other welders in the
plant solely by the fact that the former work on only one type of
material. Under the circumstances and in view of the absence of a
:bargaining history for welders as part of a unit of mold makers, we
believe that there is an insufficient basis for severing the welders in
the mold division from the existing unit of miscellaneous employees
and including them in the unit of mold makers.1' We find that the
unit as sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining and shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
9 The mold division superintendent testified that in his opinion a skilled welder could
become an accomplished mold welder in a period of about 3 or 4 months, and that he did not
consider a mold welder as being more skilled than a fully qualified general welder.
10 Cf. Matter of Ball Brothers Company of California, Inc., 80 N. L. It. B. 1316, where the
Board found , in effect , that the similar inclusion of mold polishers and mold repairmen in
a single group did not constitute an appropriate craft unit.
11 Matter of General Electric Company, 77 N. L. R. R. 1198 ; Matter of B. F. Goodrich
Chemical Company, 84 N. L. it. B. 429.